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President Bill Clinton

A young Billy Blythe on his third birthday.

Clinton Foundation

Quick Facts

Significance:

42nd President of the United States

Place of Birth:

Hope, Arkansas

Date of Birth:

August 19, 1946

On August 19, 1946, William (Bill) Jefferson Blythe III was born to Virginia Cassidy Blythe. William took was named after his father, William Blythe II, who tradjecly passed away in a car accident three months prior. Young Bill would later grow up to become Willim Jefferson Clinton, and become the 42nd president of the United States.

Bill was born in the city of Hope, Arkansas, but would later move to Hot Spring, Arkansas after his mother married Roger Clinton. While the time Bill spent in Hope as a child was brief compared to his time in Hot Springs, this is still his first home and where the foundation was laid for who he would later become.

"...my grandparents and my mother always made me feel I was the most important person in the world to them. Most children will make it if they have just one persoon who makes them feel that way. I had three." -Presient Bill Clinton

Bill was raised jointly by his mother and maternal grandparents for the first several years of his life. His grandmother, Eddith Grisham, worked as an LVN in the city of hope. In her spare time, she would begin to teach young Bill how to read and write. She understood the value that education had, and worked to intill that understanding into her grandson. Bill as even able to begin reading by the age of three, thanks to Eddiths efforts.

Bill's grandfather, Eldridge, owned a grocery store in Hope. Despite the fact that Hope was still mostly segragated at the time of Bill's birth, Eldridge would serve anyone who came shopping at his store regardless of their race or background. He knew the value that each person has, and respected everyone. These ideals were taught to Bill as a child, and they played a major role in the policies and decisions he would make as President.

"My grandfather just had a grade-school education. But in that country store he taught me more about equality in the eyes of the Lord han all my prefessors at Georgetown, more about the intrinsic worth of every individual than all the philosophers at Oxford; and he taught me more about the need for equal justice han all the jurists at Yale Law School."-President Bill Clinton

Bill grew up in small town in southern Arkansas, and was raised by an pretty standard family. But the people in that family, and the desire Bill had to learn more about people, helped this young boy grow into a president of the United States.